A Bollywood actress who claims to be the woman at the centre of a Sunday Times investigation into cricket match fixing has admitted to socialising with international players in England.
An undercover investigation by The Sunday Times revealed last week how corrupt Indian bookmakers were trying to rig matches, using glamorous women to target players.
Although she was not named in the article, the actress, Nupur Mehta, called a press conference in Mumbai where she said she believed she had been identified. She denied being involved in rigging matches.
Speaking to The Sunday Times later, Mehta said she met international cricketers by chance during a visit to the Cromwell Mint casino in central London on June 22, 2009.
“I went to the casino on my own and these cricketers happened to be there,” she said. “They were all in London because of the T20 World Cup.”
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Mehta said during her visit she shared a room at the Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington with a man she believed to be a businessman working in the building industry. He was, in fact, an Indian bookmaker.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was reported to the International Cricket Council (ICC) by the Sri Lankan team after allegedly trying to recruit three players at the casino on the night of June 22, 2009.
One of the players was the former Sri Lankan captain, Dilshan Tillakaratne, who was declared man of the series at the end of the 2009 tournament.
There is no suggestion that Mehta was involved in the approach to the cricketers nor that any of the Sri Lankan players, including Tillakaratne, are, or were, involved in any match fixing activities.
In fact, after the visit to the casino and the alleged approach to players, Brendon Kuruppu, then Sri Lankan team manager, followed ICC protocol by writing to its anti-corruption unit to report the activities of the bookmaker.
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Asked about her relationship with the bookmaker, Mehta, 31, who has modelled on catwalks in Paris and Milan, said: “I no longer have any kind of relation with this kind of person . . . When I knew him, I knew he was in the construction business, that’s about it. I don’t know what connection he has with the bookie world or anything.”
Mehta confirmed that she had met several Indian cricketers. “I was in Bollywood so all cricketers were there so I didn’t think that meeting them was any kind of harm,” she said.
“I’m a young girl who loves cricket and if I happen to meet these people because everyone is there, there’s no harm in it.”
Mehta said she would be prepared to talk to investigators from the ICC, if requested.
Mehta, the daughter of two doctors, was crowned Miss Delhi at the age of 17 and travelled to Europe where she worked as a model.
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She returned to India in 2003 and starred in two Bollywood films, one loosely based on the Harry Potter stories called Abracadabra, and another called Jo Bole So Nihaal in which Mehta played the girlfriend of a terrorist.
She also starred in advertising campaigns for companies including Fanta and Fiat and currently works for an event management firm.
During a press conference outside a coffee shop, Mehta said: “All these allegations are false. I am not involved in this, I can never think about match fixing.”
The attraction of England to those seeking to corrupt cricket was illustrated this year when the Essex bowler Mervyn Westfield was handed a four-month prison term after admitting he received £6,000 to concede at least 12 runs in his first over in a Natwest Pro40 game against Durham in September 2009.
Bookmakers were attracted to the county match because it was broadcast across Asia where gambling is rife.
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As well as betting on results, punters place wagers on specific events during matches such as how many runs will be conceded by a bowler or runs scored by a batsman during a set period. The so-called brackets bets leave the sport vulnerable to corruption.
A senior ICC investigator will fly to London this week from its headquarters in Dubai to collect the dossier of evidence amassed by The Sunday Times during its investigation.